SEISMIC SHIFT: The stunning news that President Joe Biden is bowing out and passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris is dominating our coverage today, just 105 days until Election Day. The response: Democrats showered Biden with praise and many said they’d back Harris — but Gov. JB Pritzker, who has aspirations for national office, and the Illinois Democratic Party weren’t among them. Does it mean Pritzker might run for president? His team won’t say. We're also waiting to hear whether Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia might run, too. Manchin is an Independent and would have to return to the Democratic Party. Also keeping mum on Harris: Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who heads the county’s Democratic Party. State party chairs from across the country announced their support for Harris, but Illinois Democratic Party Chair Lisa Hernandez wasn’t one of them. Remember it was Pritzker who helped get her into that position. Holding their powder: Hernanez’s team even sent an email to Illinois delegates asking them to “hold tight” in talking about who they’ll support at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month. “Our recommendation is that you hold tight and outside of thanking Biden for his service, you hold back from reacting publicly at this time,” according to Hernandez’s message obtained by Playbook. The reasoning: Biden doesn’t decide who the Democratic nominee is. Delegates do. The Democratic National Committee will meet Wednesday to consider what's next. We wonder: Maybe Pritzker and the Illinois Democratic Party are taking a page from President Barack Obama, who endorsed an open Democratic primary process at the convention next month. What to watch: Pritzker is also being mentioned as a veep nominee along with Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. Here are 9 possible running mates, via POLITICO. It's fair to say Biden’s announcement took Democrats by surprise. It took Pritzker’s team nearly an hour to issue a statement. Before the news came out, City of Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin urged Biden to step aside. “He should pass the torch to the woman he chose to succeed him,” her statement read. Also backing Harris: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Congressmen Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Sean Casten (IL-06), Mike Quigley (IL-05) and Brad Schneider (IL-10) who had all urged Biden to exit the campaign, and fellow members of Congress Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Danny Davis (IL-07), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Bill Foster (IL-11), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), and Lauren Underwood (IL-14). GOP on the attack: Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi called Biden’s exit “the culmination of years of lies from the Biden White House and Democrats shaming anyone who questioned the fitness of President Biden.” Why Biden finally quit: “When the campaign commissioned new battleground polling over the last week, it was the first time they had done surveys in some key states in more than two months, according to two people familiar with the surveys. And the numbers were grim, showing Biden not just trailing in all six critical swing states but collapsing in places like Virginia and New Mexico where Democrats had not planned on needing to spend massive resources to win,” via POLITICO’s politics team. CONVENTION ZONE: Democratic National Convention Chair Minyon Moore said the August gathering will forge ahead. “Here in Chicago, our mission remains the same. During the convention, we will have an opportunity to show the country and the world who Democrats are and what we stand for,” she said in a statement. 55 things to know about Kamala Harris, by POLITICO’s Catherine Kim and Zach Stanton From the Tribune’s team: Biden’s decision to drop out creates big questions for Chicago convention, Pritzker’s political future OPINION: Pall lifts from the party, but Harris doesn’t have much time to turn the conversation to Trump’s conduct rather than her own, by POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin Party like it's 1968? History repeats itself, via NBC 5 If you are Minyon Moore, Playbook would like to hear from you. Email: skapos@politico.com
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